Blogger hates me!

A Blogger glitch tweaked all my followings (and maybe some followers) - I finally figured out that I had somehow been automatically switched to "Anonymous" on all the blogs I follow today!

I swear I love you all! I've switched back to "Public," so hopefully things will return to normal.

They control the horizontal...they control the vertical...

20: Electronic Batman LCD Game

Oh how far we've come!

Bigger than an iPhone and displaying as much processing power as your average toaster, this is the state-of-the-art (by 1989 standards) Batman handheld game by Tiger Electronics.

You start out battling goons on a rooftop and continue to...battle goons on a rooftop.

They come on strong, and barrel in stronger as the levels progress! You must shoot them with your batarangs and in later levels you get ninja stars and a spear gun...but the goons get stronger too, so beware!

At the end of each of four levels the Joker appears and you must defeat him while dodging grenades and poison gas. After four levels, you win - game over! Wheee!

Now, for your viewing pleasure, I present to you: Level One!

Let me be your teddy bear

This is the first and greatest teddy bear I ever owned.

Well, not this exact bear - you see, I had the same make and model as a baby/toddler, and it later disappeared, as so many childhood friends do, into the ether of lost toys. I don't know when or where he was lost, but it probably happened during a move.

Decades later I was working in home remodeling. At one random job the homeowner was planning a garage sale; in a box of stuffed animals was this bear - the same model I had as a kid. I couldn't believe it! A couple bucks later and he was mine once again! Ironically, it was found in the same town I was born in, and it very well could be the town my original bear was lost in. This could be my original bear, but then again it could just be one of thousands sold. Who knows? Only the Shadow knows.

He's a pretty fancy teddy bear, with jointed arms, legs and head.

I don't even remember having a name for my bear, I was so young when I originally had him. So I just call him teddy bear.

I always loved the cute tongue sticking out - and the stitched nose and hard plastic eyes. Quality!

He was made by R. Dakin & Co...

...and he's dated 1968. I don't know if that's the exact year this one came from or if that's just when they started making this model. I wasn't born until '74, but my sister was born in '69 so my original could have been a hand-me-down or they could have still been producing them into the mid seventies. Who knows? Only the Shadow knows.

Either way, I'm glad he's mine again. I won't be losing this one!

Bear SMASH! RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

40: Tail Wagon

Station wagons are awesomeness. Muscle cars are awesomeness. If my math is correct, that means muscle car station wagons are awesomeness squared!

Continuing with our Hot Wheels 40th anniversary celebration (1969-2009) today's vehicle is the brand new for 2009 '70 Chevelle SS Wagon!

This Hot Wheel is simply gorgeous.

It has the perfect California rake and nice 5 spoke wheels. This one is sure to be popular, and hopefully it's released in many different colors. I will amass a whole fleet of them!


The details are really nice, with door handles, hood pins, and even auto parts molded to the interior in the back!

Great start Mattel - now if Hot Wheels will just heed my pleas and make a '71 Torino Country Squire like my old high school ride, I'll be in heaven!

Toy Soldiers

The river was wide and dangerous, but it was neither wide nor dangerous enough to keep the Red Knight from his conquest.



The Blue Knight knew that, come morning, the colour red would be victorious one way or another: Red Knight would take his castle, or blood would stain his sword.



Red Knight knew the same.



Morning came and Red Knight had conquered the blue water. Now all that was left was to conquer the Blue Knight.



Weapons clashed amidst the ferns and sand. The ringing of metal and the cracking of bone echoed through the forest. Suddenly all went silent...save for one final "splash!"


Blue Knight was victorious; Red Knight's blood turned blue water to red.

Who ya' Gonna Call...?

...a Copyright attorney!

Hot on the heels of the recent announcement that Mattel will soon release movie accurate Ghostbusters action figures comes Tech Deck Dude #149:

aka Murry.

I've posted previous Tech Deck Dude releases that are eerily similar to existing properties, and I must admit I admire their chutzpah. Who else has the stones to make guys like these and release them at the mass market level? I mean, these aren't your normal swap meet bootlegs. These guys are all over Toys R Us and K-Mart!


They even took this one a step further by including a little class 5 full roaming vapor.


This little translucent ghost alone is worth the price of admission!


It's Dudes like this that keep me looking through the Tech Decks on a regular basis. There's a couple other recent releases that I've had my eye on; one that looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and another exceptionally tempting one that looks like Teen Wolf, but when I saw Murry I absolutely could not leave him on the pegs! I may even buy multiples of this one!


Murry comes with a hand held detector (what was that thing called again?) which may be removable, but I didn't force it.


He also has a proton pack. Naturally!


"It's looking at me, Ray."


"ACK! He slimed me!"


I'm no Tech Deck Expert (Tech Dexpert?) so I don't know if this is a new deal or a one-off change, but this figure does not have the usual magnetic feet that all my other Tech Deck Dudes have. Instead his board has a peg on it and his feet each have a small hole. His proton pack also has a small hole in it, presumably to hold his skateboard, which is a pretty cool feature. The board does still have a magnetic strip on it, so magnetic Tech Deck Dudes can use it.


Lotsa cute little details on this guy, including a ghostless Ghostbusters symbol on his arm. Wouldn't want to arouse suspicion from Mattel's attorneys, would we? *winkwinknudgenudge*


BONUS! Now I have a driver for my Ecto-1! Yay!


VROOOM VROOOOM! WeeeRooorWeeeRooorWeeeRoooor!SCREEEEECH!


"Bustin' makes me feel good!"


"Haunted skate park? No problem!"


"Back off man, I'm a scientist."


Finally, here's the card-back, which lists Murry's occupation as "Bogeyman Buster."

Riiiiight.

*winkwinknudgenudge*

Kobra Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!!

Kobra Khan has always been one of my favorite Masters of the Universe figures. He's definitely in my top five, along with Stratos, Beast-Man, Man-at-Arms, and Scareglow.


His "action feature" basically boils down to this: He's a squirt bottle.


His face doesn't even hide the fact. Brilliant.


But seriously, what kid doesn't love squirt bottles? Until Kobra Khan came around, you had to dig under the kitchen sink to get one, then dump out the toxic chemicals, refill them with water from the hose, and finally drink from them, squirt your friends in their eyes, mist yourself on a hot day etc.

It's a wonder any of us are still alive. No wonder cancer is so prevalent.


But Khan here changed all that - and soon we were all squirting his venomous nerve-gas harmlessly down our throats in between heated Eternian battles.

Good times.

His & Hearse

A couple years ago Matchbox released one of the coolest 1:64 die-cast ever.


That's Die-Cast - with emphasis on DIE!


This 1963 Cadillac Hearse was first released in black (naturally) and has been released a couple times since. The second release is this pearl white number, and I believe you may be able to find a grey version on the pegs now - if you're lucky.


They tend to be very popular and sell quickly.


The detail is beautiful, and it's quite a surprising selection for a toy car.


Then again, what kid isn't a fan of the macabre in some form or another?


This is what I call going out in style!


There's also a fun little bonus, if you have really good eyes that is - on the inside is a coffin with a hand reaching out of the lid!


As if the Hearse wasn't cool enough!